Risk Contagion in Interbank Networks: An Empirical Study Based on Banking Industry in China

This paper adopts the maximum entropy method to estimate the interbank networks of banking industry in China from 2007 to 2013. Under the premise of the distinction between creditor banks and debt banks,it calculates total risk of interbank business rivals by taking network linkage strength as the weight,and then explores the effect of total risks of interbank business rivals on banks' own risk. Results show that the risks of debt banks have the significantly positive effect on the risks of creditor banks,but the risks of creditor banks do not have the significant effect on the risks of debt banks,confirming that there is risk contagion from debt banks to creditor banks in China's interbank business. Further analysis shows that,banks with high leverage,high interbank asset ratio and high interbank asset concentration are more susceptible to contagion.This paper provides evidence for risk contagion resulting from interbank business in China,and is of great reality significance to the enhancement of preventing banks against risk contagion and the avoidance of banking systematic risks.